


Saviors of Faces

by FurudeKami



Series: Fire Emblem Collection [4]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Miitopia (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Blood and Violence, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Fluff, M/M, Mentioned Sylvain Jose Gautier, Rating May Change, Slight OOC Claude von Riegan, Soft Felix Hugo Fraldarius, Warnings May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-17
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:46:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 21,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22093552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FurudeKami/pseuds/FurudeKami
Summary: A laid-back adventurer, Claude von Riegan, has taken on a quest to defeat the forces of darkness and save the faces of Miitopia. His journey won't be easy, but with the power he holds, and his friends by his side, he will fight on valiantly.
Relationships: Ashe Duran | Ashe Ubert/Felix Hugo Fraldarius, Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/Claude von Riegan
Series: Fire Emblem Collection [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1447270
Kudos: 13





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm playing through Miitopia again for the billionth time now, and the current playthrough is a Fire Emblem one, with Claude as who I play as. So, I'm going to be basing off of impulse ideas and what I've had go on in my playthrough.

The inn was a bit toasty this time of day in Karkaton, that was for sure.

Claude looked through the storage chest in the room idly for a moment, then closed it with a sigh when he hadn't found what he'd been searching for.

"Have you lost something, Claude?"

"Nah, I don't think so." He stood to stretch, and shot Dimitri a grin. "Just looking for a little something for an accessory to wear is all. I can go without it."

"Alright, if you say so. The professors have asked me to come tell you that it's time for breakfast, so be sure to come eat with us when you're all ready, alright?"

Claude gave him a nod, and he was on his way. Claude made his way around the room a bit more, just doing a bit of routine checking to make sure everything was still in its spot. Once he was satisfied, he reached into his shirt to pull out the family amulet he kept around his neck.

_"Ho ho! Do you wish to change your Job, young Claude?"_

"Yup." He replied. "I just got myself all beefed up as a Warrior, so I think I'll beeeeee... an Imp. Catch that skill up a bit, then I'll catch myself up as a Thief."

_"A very good plan indeed, Claude! Now, let us change your Job, ho ho!"_

A quick flash of light, then it was gone as soon as it came. He took a few steps to readjust to having the hooves he did for feet, and he made his way over to the standing mirror to observe himself. He turned this way and that, and flapped his wings a bit for good measure. He gave himself a toothy grin, his fangs sharp as can be.

"Hell yeah, looking as cool as I remember! Now it's time for some grub!"

* * *

The dining hall was rather chatty today. Claude peeked his head through the entry archway, smiling at everyone once their attention had been caught and all eyes were on him.

"There you are, is everything alright?" Byleth asked him curiously.

"Yeah, I'm all good, just was checking through stuff for a minute, then changed my Job to beef up as an Imp for a while."

With a nod of acknowledgement, Byleth returned to his meal and conversation with Beres, Hilda, and Lysithea. Claude walked in fully to head on over to the long table, walking past a few other teammates before having a seat next to Dimitri, who had been picking at the BBQ Scorpion on his plate idly. He perked right up when Claude had been seated, and handed Claude his own plate before finally digging right in to his food.

"You weren't waiting for me to get here before you started eating, were you?"

"I was, yes." Dimitri replied. "It always feels more right to me when I eat with you. Without you with me, it feels... a little dull."

Claude grinned at him, and leaned over to give him a quick peck on the cheek, his eyes sparkling when he got a giggle and shy smile in response.

"Do you two have to do all that at the table? People are trying to eat."

The two looked up at Felix, who glanced at them from the side with a frown. Only when Ashe tapped his shoulder did his face soften to a neutral and his attention shift elsewhere. He watched closely as Ashe put a big slice of Devil's Food Cake ★★ in front of him, and took an extra chocolatey piece off of the top with his fork.

"Here ya go, Fe! Say 'aaah'!"

Ashe let out a giggle when Felix slumped in his seat.

"Do I really have to do all that?"

"You don't _have_ to," Ashe said, "but...please? Just once? For me?"

The two stared at each other in silence for a moment, before Felix averted his eyes, finally overwhelmed by the direct eye contact. He let out a small huff, and slowly looked back over at Ashe.

"...You're lucky you're cute and we're dating."

He slowly opened his mouth, the small "aah" barely above a whisper. The moment that cake came in contact with his tongue, he had to fight the flutter of his eyelids from the pure deliciousness spreading all through his mouth. He never had liked sweets before, but the things Ashe and Lysithea had introduced him to in time to warm him up to them really had him loving them now. And every kind of Devil's Food Cake always just... did it for him. He couldn't explain _how_ it was _so_ delicious to him that he had to fight his eyes fluttering closed every time he had a bite, but it never failed to be _that_ yummy to him. Chocolate had immediately become his favorite kind of sweet, since it didn't always have to be super sugary tasting, and had such a wide variety of flavors and combinations to choose from. He'd happily slay a million and one Imps in one sitting for a chance to get his hands on even just a little slice of this stuff.

"Ooooh, look at the lovebirds~"

Felix turned to shoot Hilda a scowl, and just turned away to stare down at his hands on the table when she only laughed and wiggled her eyebrows at him. He wanted so badly to cover his face to hide the blush spreading across it, and that only deepened further when Ashe had leaned in close to whisper to him. But he refused, and only kept staring down at the table, trying his hardest to ease his embarrassment away with the cake as he grabbed the fork and took another bite.

"Here, Claude, I saved this for you."

He looked from Felix to Dimitri, eyes widening with delight at what Dimitri put on his now empty plate. Roast Griffin, his favorite.

"Are you sure? I don't wanna eat this up if you're still hungry!"

"I'm absolutely stuffed, so take it, it's my pleasure!"

"Thank you _so_ much, Dimi!" Claude replied happily, and took a huge bite the moment he finished speaking. He sighed through his nose, taking his time to chew each bite he took. He'd taken big bites anyway, so it wasn't like he could do much else if he didn't want to choke. He gave Dimitri as best a smile as he could give every time he looked back up to see the other watching him eat with amusement. Finally, he'd eaten all he could, nothing left but bone. He was completely full now, and definitely pleased at the increase of his stats from the meal he could already feel. He and the others all stood, empty plates in hand as they all made their way to wash and put away everything they'd used.

* * *

"What's the plan?"

"Alright," Claude said, looking between everyone in the group. He pointed at Beres, and continued his thought. "Teach One, you, Felix, and Hilda are gonna be joining me for a while so we can get you guys leveled up some more. The rest of you will be all good to stay all settled in here until we get back, alright? If we defeat a lot of enemies and level up while we're out, I may switch out tomorrow. But until then, the plan stays as this."

Claude grabbed his Skull Spear, Felix already had his Chopper Sword at the ready, as with Beres and her Paladin Sword, and Hilda grabbed her own Chopper Sword, and out the four went to explore deeper into the Dark Lord's castle.


	2. Chapter 2

The exploration was mostly uneventful for a while. They'd come across a few chests here and there, got their gold, a few grub items, and they continued on their way. Claude whistled a random little tune, the sound echoing off of the walls. It helped kind of get rid of the stillness of the halls that wasn't muted by the echoes of their footsteps, so no one else complained. Only when the whistling became too high-pitched for too long did Felix ask him to be a bit quieter, and he avoided the higher tones with no complaints. His sense of hearing was much more sensitive as an Imp, so he could kind of understand where Felix came from.

"Claude, I'm bored..." Hilda said with a whine. "Can we like... go back to the inn yet?"

"Sorry, Hilda, gotta explore some more."

She whined with a pout, but didn't say anything further. Before long, the group came to a fork in the hallway's paths. They could go left, or they could go right. After a bit of contemplation, the group decided to head through the right path first, agreeing to explore down the left path tomorrow if this route wasn't too intricate. So far it hadn't been, until Claude stopped in his tracks.

"Hold on." He looked all around, ears perking up and angling downwards as he moved his head all about to hear everything around him. "I think I heard something."

"Me too." Felix replied quietly. "Sounded like one of those smaller Imps."

Everyone readied their weapons, preparing for anything that may come their way.

* * *

It was an onslaught, with more Imps than usual swarming the group now. There wasn't much of a break in between each wave of them.

"What the hell, why are there so many of these things all of a sudden?!" Hilda shouted out, before turning with a frightened shriek to stab her sword down onto the head of an Imp that had thought it a good idea to grab one of her ankles.

"I don't know, but it's getting on my fucking nerves! _Shit!_ Claude, look out, two Clever Imps right behind you!" Felix braced for the impact of the smaller Imp that had lunged for him, wincing at the slice on his armor that barely missed his skin, then plunged his sword right into the Imp's torso. He flung the corpse off towards some other Imps, before it poofed away in that usual blue light before it hit the ground, and a deep blue eye floated away.

Claude turned around to see the two Clever Imps charging right at him, pitchforks at the ready. He threw himself backwards, flapping his wings with twist of his body to maneuver himself before he hit the ground, and flew into the air once he'd dodged them, summoning a portal on the floor before he stabbed his spear into it to impale the Clever Imps in their spot with his Punishing Pitchforks, killing them instantly. He didn't waste time to watch the eyes and glasses he'd saved float off to return to their owners before flying back into the fray to help fight off the rest of the Imps that had the others grouped close.

* * *

"Uuugh, I'm all dirtyyyyy!"

"Well, you leveled up, so is it that bad?"

"YES!" Hilda whined, and wiped her eyes with a sniffle after taking off her dirtied gauntlets and gloves. "Imp blood smells weird, and it's hard to get out of my clothes!"

"And it's sticky." Beres added quietly.

"Yeah, _and_ it's sticky!"

"Try getting it out of literal thick fur that's attached to your body," Claude said calmly as he finished up cleaning up his Skull Spear the best he could manage. "And wings. I've gotta fly with these things, but I get blood and stuff all caked on my feathers sometimes. Ya gotta be careful when cleaning wings. Fur hurts when it yanks and stuff, but if I lose too many feathers, that won't be a good thing at all and can't just be remedied by waiting in time to grow them back."

"Are you trying to say that I'm overreacting?"

"I am, yes."

Beres and Felix grinned when Hilda huffed with agitation and stomped out of the room to bathe. That bluntness he occasionally had could be beyond amusing sometimes. A sassy kind of bluntness that only Imp Claude could have.

"So, since today was as eventful as it was, will the plan still be in effect?"

"Nah," Claude replied, not looking up at Felix as he began to clean the bottoms of his hooves. "Hilda leveled up twice, so until everyone else catches up, she's staying here. Not like she'd complain about that if that exchange we just had was anything to go by."

"Who do you plan on leveling up next?"

"Hm... probably Caspar. He needs to get out there and shoot stuff, he's three levels behind what he should be. Maybe we'll come across some more Tanks for him to get his defense raised up more since we've really been hitting the jackpot with chests lately."

Felix hummed and nodded in acknowledgement, even though he wasn't really looking forward to that decision. He steered clear of that man every moment he could on the battlefield, since for whatever reason _he_ was always the prime target Caspar chose when he wanted to pull a Human Cannonball. Why he and Bernadetta were the ones Caspar lunged for to stuff into that damned canon on his head and shoot out with his Shells at the enemy, he had no clue, but it made him much more concerned with his own safety and his concern for Bernadetta in general when he thought about it.

"I'll give him a good talking to so he doesn't pull anything on you like usual if you want me to."

Felix looked back up, seeing Claude glancing his way. He just gave Claude a nod with a small "please".

"That bastard sees me and gets tunnel vision. And so do I when he stuffs me into that fucking thing to shoot me out at whatever we fight, and damn near give me a concussion even at the mere thought."

He relaxed a bit when he heard a soft chuckle at that. It wasn't a mocking chuckle, and he knew that by now. He and Claude both made to stand, and put their now clean weapons away, before they headed to the men's bathhouse to finally get in that bath they'd both been looking forward to.

* * *

The soft, low rumble of the outside was peaceful in the darkness of the inn, the room only illuminated by the odd glowing bubble-like object in a plant pot in the corner of the room that slowly raised up and squished back down. Neither Claude or Dimitri could sleep, and the two had been tossing and turning for hours on end to try and get some rest. They'd both given up on that, and opened their eyes to look at each other.

"You can't sleep either, eh?"

"I cannot..."

"Well, I guess that's okay." Claude mumbled, and moved closer to snuggle up against Dimitri's chest, instantly more relaxed as he listened to the sound of the other man's heartbeat. "We can just lie here together for a while. Maybe talk and pass the time if you want."

"I would like that."

And that's what they did. For hours on end, they talked about anything that came to mind to pass the time. Claude told about the Imp swarm, and complimented the others on their performance during the battle. Dimitri told about Caspar tripping when he tried to catch Lysithea by surprise with a corny white sheet ghost prank, and was only laughed at by the others for his failure and sulking over embarrassing himself. They talked about the people they've met during their adventures that they plan on visiting when given the chance. The list goes on and on. And all through these conversations, they stayed close, arms wrapped around each other. They would take times of silence to just look into each other's eyes, with cornflower blue meeting deep gold, even more stark against the full black of Claude's scleras now that they too had begun to faintly glow.

"Claude, may I tell you something?"

"Of course you can. Whatever you wanna tell me."

"I..." Dimitri started. He wanted to just get this out. He wanted to get these words out to Claude, but his voice failed him. He was thankful Claude was always patient with him, else he'd likely have given up out of nervousness overtaking his senses. But this time, there was no nervousness to be found. Only a growing desire to say his piece. He took a deep breath, and finally managed to say what he'd been trying to.

"I love you."

The world could've frozen in place and neither would've noticed. Claude's mind fell blank the very moment those words registered in his mind. He couldn't move, frozen in place as he tried his hardest to respond. That worried look Dimitri had given him when his eyes glowed even brighter was the thing he needed to make his move.

He moved up just enough to press their lips together, soft and still to not push. He didn't linger for too long, and pulled back to bring their foreheads together.

"I love you too, Dimitri."

He smiled when he saw just how bright those eyes became, and let himself be pulled even closer to have his face excitedly peppered in little kisses. He giggled as he finally wiggled his arms free enough to wrap them around Dimitri tight.

**_Relationship Deepened!_ **

**_Soul mates_ **


	3. Chapter 3

" ** _LET'S GO OUT AND KILL SHIT!_** "

"Why don't you fucking tone it down first?"

"What? I'm just HYPED!"

"And _I'm_ being deafened by how _loud_ you're being!"

Claude shook his head with a soft sigh as Felix and Caspar kept at their back-and-forth, and when Caspar had raised his voice even further and it echoed sharply through the halls, he'd finally had enough. He raised a hand and snapped his fingers, and Caspar's mouth had forced itself shut. He tried his hardest to force it open, even resorting to using his hands to try and grab his lips to pull them apart, but they stayed in their place. He gawked up at Claude, who didn't even look back at him.

"It's time to calm down, Caspar. We need to focus."

"MMM?!" Caspar tried to speak through this little complication, the anger evident on his face. "MMMH HWMM YMMM?!"

"Yes, it was me who shut you up. And those lips of yours will _stay_ sealed until we get jumped by a monster if you don't want to chill out. I get you're excited, but if you don't focus, you can't efficiently and satisfyingly 'kill shit' as you put it."

Caspar only growled at him, and crossed his arms as they proceeded. He didn't dare to make a sound aside from the steady _bzzz_ of his Tank's wheels as they worked. Ashe looked between everyone, and was relieved when Felix had fully calmed again, but grew worried again as he saw just how grumpy Caspar had become. Even more so when he saw just how dark the look in Claude's eyes became as he looked all around with a frown and occasional twitch of an eyebrow from annoyance.

"Claude? Are you okay?" Ashe whispered softly when he'd walked closer to Claude.

"Mm-hmm. Just a little annoyed is all. I've just got a temper when I'm an Imp, it'll be fine and I'll calm down soon."

He was hesitant, but Ashe nodded regardless, and walked back over to Felix to stay at his side. They finally reached that same forked path, and made their way through the left hallway.

* * *

To Caspar and Felix's excitement, they were met with a pair of Blue Minotaurs blocking their path. the group gave all they had, dodging heavy swings from those massive hammers whenever possible, and attacking in kind. Felix really had fun Jump Slashing and Spin Slashing them, and Caspar got a little too spirited with his Laser, and he didn't have any MP Candies on him to eat and get some of that back to keep attacking. So he stayed on the defense, readying his Tank when those Minotaurs came at him to swing. He braced for impact, but the short sounds of a sizzle and a zap cut through. He peeked up to see one of the Minotaurs stumble backwards with a grunt.

"Got it!"

Ashe grinned brightly, and readied his Silver Daggers to throw. He'd aimed quite well this time, and one of the Minotaurs was finally defeated when a dagger landed right above its eye. A big poof and blue flash of light, and that eye was on its way.

"Good job, Ashe!" Felix said with a smirk before charging to give the remaining Minotaur a nasty slash on one of its legs, causing it to lose its balance and fall.

"Nice, you two!" Claude added, and fluttered into the air with a spin. That dark magic on the floor from his portal appeared, and with a cackle and a faked innocent smile, he slammed his spear down _hard_ to deliver the final blow with a Naughty Pitchfork.

* * *

Ashe and Felix sat in a peaceful silence in the bathhouse, deciding to wait until everyone else had finished before they bathed and headed towards the hot spring pool. Ashe would occasionally take glances at Felix, who had his eyes closed as he let himself relax for a bit. A smile spread across his face as he saw just how at peace Felix was for once. It wasn't often he got to see this, and he wanted to take in the sight while he had it.

"You're staring at me."

Ashe jolted from surprise when Felix had suddenly spoken like that, and he averted his eyes quickly. Felix didn't have any trace of that bite to his tone he usually had when he'd said that, but it still made Ashe feel bad.

"S-sorry..."

"What's on your mind?"

"Nothing, I just like your face."

Ashe immediately winced at how he'd worded that. That had come out completely wrong. At least the look Felix gave him wasn't anything negative, only one of confusion as he raised an eyebrow.

"You like my face?"

"W-well, I kinda worded that weird..." Ashe replied softly as he fiddled with his hands. "I just meant that I like the look you had. You're so relaxed right now, and it makes me happy seeing you relaxed."

He almost spoke again, until he got a few blinks and a nod in response, and Felix went right back to leaning his head back with his eyes closed. That seemed to satisfy him. Ashe tried to not spend so long staring at him as the time passed, and took a few moments here and there to look around at other things in the room. It was kind of hard to keep his attention shifted elsewhere, though, when Felix looked so comfy. He'd even had a few moments when Ashe has spoken to him that the smallest of smiles pulled that the corners of his lips when he hummed or gave short responses. Ashe was so happy right now. He was so happy that Felix was so content, he couldn't help but want to take this in in any way he could.

"Hey, Fe?"

A small hum.

"Would physical contact overstimulate you right now?"

Felix opened his eyes again to glance over at Ashe for a moment, but he closed them again and shook his head.

"I don't think it would, no. Go ahead and do what you want to do."

The openness of that statement made Ashe's face heat up all over again, but he swallowed and pushed the more... _suggestive_ things that had suddenly made their way into his mind to the side as he scooted closer to lean on Felix, and reached for a hand to grab and hold. He thought he'd seen Felix smile wider out of the corner of his eye, but he wasn't completely sure. But that was perfectly fine, he was just happy to be this close to the one he held dearest. His own eyes had begun to slowly flutter closed-

Ashe squeaked when his head had been suddenly turned, and Felix gave him a kiss. He quickly melted into it, A happy sigh leaving him when he'd been pulled into Felix's lap.

"Fe...should we...go this far here?" He asked in between kisses.

"We're not doing anything more than kissing here."

One more quick kiss, and Ashe was resituated to be cradled close, instead of straddling Felix's hips. "I'm not going to have my first time with you in such a risky place, anyway. That's Sylvain's thing, not mine. If I'm going to be giving that to anyone, it needs to be special."

They went back to quietly relaxing again, as peaceful as it was before. 

"I'm with you there. Love you, Fe."

"Mm. Love you, too."

**_Relationship Deepened!_ **

**_Together forever_ **


	4. Chapter 4

"You guys all good?"

Felix, Ashe, and Dimitri only sighed with nods of their heads as they followed him into the bathhouse, all four of them completely exhausted from the day's rounds of fighting monsters and saving faces. Their victories were all  _ very _ close calls, every single one, and they were already ready to just head to bed and be done with the whole day the moment the inn came into view.

Claude took out the bottle of HP Sprinkles, and let out a hiss through his teeth as he shook small bits of it into his wounds. Once he'd finished, he walked over to the others and helped them with the wounds they couldn't reach themselves. About halfway through the bottle, and they'd finally gotten the sprinkles everywhere they needed to. It didn't take long for the sprinkles to take effect, the pleasant wave of relief washing through them as they watched their wounds heal themselves.

"Finally... Some relief..." Claude said softly.

“Indeed…” Dimitri added. “You took quite a beating out there, Claude…”

“Let’s just get cleaned up and head to bed. I’m done for the day.” Felix grumbled as he began to work at his armor to take it off.

The four had gotten undressed as quickly as they could do so with the aches in their bodies, and took time to just soak in the hot spring pool and let their muscles relax once they’d gotten clean. Not one word was muttered the entire time, not even from Ashe. No acts of affection that were more than momentary head leans on shoulders, nothing of the sort. They were tired, both physically and mentally. Finally, after they were satisfied with the time spent and the dullness the aches had reduced to, they all got out, dried off, and headed to their rooms with only a quick nod of the head and waves for a goodnight.

* * *

Felix’s eyes shot open.

He internally groaned. He was wide awake, and knew he wouldn’t have a chance to head back to bed anytime soon. The only thing that was relieving about that was that he wouldn’t be heading out with Claude again for a while due to levelling up decently yesterday. He rolled over to look at Ashe, and let himself take time to just stare and take in the sight since the eye contact wouldn’t get in the way. The way the soft firelight that leaked in through the window and framed his face, the extra softness of his features while asleep, the way his lips were parted ever so slightly…

“You’re beautiful…”

It took Felix a moment to notice that had slipped out, barely a whisper. He was thankful Ashe was so deeply asleep, and he had said that so quietly, else he’d be pretty flustered from that. He didn’t dwell for long, though, when small mumbles caught his attention. Ashe talked in his sleep when it’s deep enough, huh?

“Mmnnn… Cute…”

He didn’t know where the sudden curiosity came from, but Felix decided it wouldn’t hurt to give in to it for once.

“What’s cute?” He whispered. “You find a cat?”

“Fe.”

“M-...Me? You found me?”

“Cute… dress…”

Oh. Felix could feel the heat spreading across his cheeks at that, but he kept his composure.

“Me in a dress, huh? What, am I a Princess or something?”

Ashe grinned ever so slightly and mumbled a bit of something that wasn’t really coherent. Felix stayed quiet until he had stilled again, and was sure to still be asleep.

“Am I… am I pretty?”

“Hmmm. Hair.”

“Is my hair down?”

“Mm.”

“Ah. I see. Is the dress pretty? I picked out one with bows and lace, just for you.”

_ What the hell am I doing? _ Felix thought to himself.  _ If you weren’t so cute, I wouldn’t even be doing this...would I? _

“Pretty…”

“I’m glad. It’s only for you, you know.”

That seemed to satisfy Ashe quite a bit, since that grin returned, accompanied by a giggle. Man, he really  _ was _ deep asleep, he wasn’t showing any signs of waking up whatsoever aside from that one instance of shuffling around...

“We’re at the ball, right? If I’m the princess, you’re my prince. Why don’t we dance a bit? I need to brush up on my skills anyway, if you would have me.”

“It’s… almost mmm…”

“Almost midnight? When the clock strikes twelve, I’ll still be here for you. Meet me in the highest tower, and I’ll be there waiting for you. We can dance a dance for only the both of us to see.”

Felix took in a shaky breath after saying that. And seeing how Ashe had slightly bit his lip gave him all the confirmation he needed. He didn’t really intend for that to sound so…suggestive…but it was too late for that now. He wasn’t about to go there, definitely not in this case.

“Please.”

“Now now, don’t get too colorful with your imagination, Ashe. Let’s just take it slow. Let’s hold each other close, and dance the night away. Maybe sneak a kiss in here and there. Once the ball is over, we can get all comfy in bed and snuggle up if you want.”

“Heheh… Snuggly…”

“Yeah, snuggly.”

He was thinking he would stop soon, but Ashe’s reactions were way too cute for him to give it up just yet. He slowed down and fell quiet the more Ashe mumbled, but once Ashe was for sure still asleep, the talking would continue. It got him smiling when Ashe would say something particularly clearly, most of it involving Felix and a compliment.

“Felix? Where are..?”

“Hm? I’m right here, don’t worry. Is something going on?”

“Witch…”

“Some nasty witch is trying to get in our way, huh? Tell them I’ll beat them up if they wanna cast some spell on us.”

“Fe, witch is…”

“Don’t worry, I’m here.” Felix whispered a bit louder, but not loud enough to wake him. “I’ll protect you. I may be a princess, but I’m still your knight, too.”

It fell quiet. Felix almost tried to get his attention again, until he saw a sad furrow of Ashe’s brow.

“Fe… Dream?”

“Oh…” Felix mumbled to himself in surprise. “Y-yeah, it’s a dream. The bad stuff is all in the dream. I’m right here with you to protect you in the dream and in real life.”

“Wake me up… It’s sad…”

Well then, that took a sudden turn. It made Felix pretty sad to see. He asked if Ashe was sure, and when he got a small hum of confirmation, he did so.

“Alright, I’ll wake you up then.” He put a hand on Ashe’s shoulder and gently shook him. “Hey. Ashe. Wake up.”

It took him a few more repeats of his name at a normal volume, but he finally got Ashe to stir. He jolted slightly before his eyes shot open. He sat up, and let own a yawn as he rubbed his eyes.

“What’s wrong, Fe?”

“Nothing’s wrong with me, but are you alright now?”

“Huh?”

“You told me to wake you up because your dream was sad.” He replied as he sat up. “What was the witch in there doing?”

Ashe looked at him with surprise.

“Whoa, you knew what I was dreaming about? B-but yeah, there was a witch that broke into the window of our room all of a sudden and tried to curse you and take you away from me…”

“Ah. She must’ve been able to fly then, if we were in the highest tower of the castle.”

“H-huh? Wait, how much did I talk about the dream?”

“Well, I must’ve been the most beautiful person you’ve ever seen in a dress, if the constant mumbling about how cute and pretty I was in one was of any indication. I had my hair down too, apparently.”

Felix smirked at the sudden stutters Ashe let out as he tried to respond, and almost wanted to chuckle at the sigh and slump of his shoulders when he’d given up.

“To be fair, I was messing with you by talking with you once you really started on a tangent. That’s how I got so much information on the dream. Did we ever dance together?”

“Y-...yeah. When the big clock in the ballroom started chiming when it hit midnight, you took off your slippers and threw them at Dimitri as a distraction and you booked it up the giant staircase. It was pretty funny, especially with the weird noise he made, as embarrassed as I am to admit it. But I hurried out of the room down a big hallway to take the long way to the big tower to not have people following us. And once I got up there, you were sitting on the big bed in the room looking out the window at the moon. The way the light came in and shone down on you was… really pretty.”

“Tell me more.”

“O-oh, uh…” Ashe paused for a moment, and took a few breaths before continuing. “When we danced up there, there was really pretty ambiance, and the moonlight started getting all sparkly like it was some cheesy romance scene. We just twirled around for a while, until I tripped and fell onto the bed, and you laughed at me. I was embarrassed, but seeing you genuinely laugh and smile made it worth it. You sat down by me after I sat back up, and after that we just talked about all sorts of stuff for a while. Sometimes we’d give each other kisses, then we’d start talking again. It was so cliche and cheesy, but I loved every moment of it.”

_ Oh… He’s too cute… _ Felix’s mind was running wild now. That look he got when embarrassed about these sorts of things always drove Felix crazy.

“I can imagine that was really enjoyable. I’d enjoy that, too, I suppose. If only that witch didn’t decide to ruin our moment.”

“Yeah, right as we were about to kiss again, she just came crashing in like something the Dark Lord would do, and started going on and on about wanting you for your power. I had a dagger on my hip all of a sudden and went to grab it, but you stood up and got in front of me. You were biting right back at her and even told her you’d beat her up if she dared to cast a spell on me. It made you really mad when she only cared about you and didn’t care about me, and you suddenly had a big sword to fight her with. And it was weird, but I suddenly knew it was a dream, and hoped to wake up soon since I didn’t want to see what she would do to you. And you turned to me and said ‘don’t worry, I’ll protect you. I may be a princess, but I’m still your knight, too.’ And then I woke up.”

Felix hummed and nodded in response. Well, at least he knew why it was so easy to keep talking with him and him stay asleep. His dream was vivid enough to make him sleep deeply. He noticed the sad look on Ashe’s face again, and put a hand on his shoulder. He shook his head when he saw the worried look in Ashe’s eyes.

“It’s not anything to be down about.” Felix said. “And you know I meant it, right? I don’t care how big and fancy the dress is, or how much I love it and am careful in it, I’ll tear it up to mere rags for you to protect you if I need to. You already told me I’m like your knight, and I happily took that on despite what all I say about the chivalry bullshit, so don’t think for one second I’ll abandon that.”

“You don’t think the dream was stupid?”

“Why the hell would I? Most people can’t control their dreams, it’s not like you could just consciously say ‘ope, I don’t like this dream anymore, let’s go on to a new one’ and change it to fit what you want to see and experience. Plus it’s not like it…wasn’t flattering to hear you say all that nice stuff about me…”

Ashe’s eyes lit right up at that, and Felix would’ve been even more embarrassed, had he not been pulled into a hug before he could say much else. He returned it with a sigh, and let Ashe give him a few kisses on the cheeks.

“Hey, Fe?”

“What is it?”

“I love you.”

Felix let himself smile. A soft, genuine one. A smile that he would only give to Ashe.

“Yeah, I love you, too.”

* * *

Yet another night of tossing and turning, and Claude and Dimitri sat up.

“Fuckin’ insomnia… Cutting out my sleep when I’m tired as hell…”

“It’s agonizing when you’re actually exhausted and wishing to sleep but not able to, I definitely agree with you there…”

“Yeah,” Claude replied with an agitated sigh, “and as an Imp, I stay awake longer during the night, especially when monsters are around. And since we’re in the Dark Lord’s castle, there’s Imps and shit always wandering around the halls, so this magic keeps me up and aware because of naturally sensing other darkness-oriented presences around me.”

Dimitri gave him a sympathetic smile and pat on the shoulder, before pulling the covers back to turn and get up out of bed. Claude gave him a questioning look, but said nothing as he watched Dimitri wander about the room. A click, and the room lit up softly. They both took a moment to squint away from the light to adjust, then Dimitri continued what he was doing. He returned to bed with two books in hand, a clipboard with paper, and a pencil and eraser. He handed Claude the clipboard, pencil and eraser, and one of the books.

“Let us occupy ourselves for a while.”

“Ah. Sure, why not?”

Claude took a look at the book before setting it down next to him, and set the eraser on top of it before taking the pencil and doodling a bit in the corner of the paper to get a little warmup. Dimitri had been reading the book he had gotten for himself, but the scratches of the pencil on the paper had him distracted, and he peeked over to see what Claude was drawing. He looked on in awe, admiring the picture. It was of him, sitting on a rock in Greehorne. There were a few Rock Moths in the background, but they had no eyes attached to them, so he knew they were harmless. The look on his face was completely serene, a small and peaceful smile on his face as he looked up at the clouds in the sky.

“Wow, that’s amazing, Claude!”

“Thanks! I haven’t drawn anything in a while, so I was hoping I hadn’t gotten rusty on it.”

“You definitely have a very evident skill!” Dimitri said. “I had heard word that you liked to draw in your free time when not reading, so I got those for you. I never knew what any of your art looked like before now.”

“Wait, really? I was sure I’d have told you and shown some stuff of mine by now… I guess this is a good way to be introduced to it, eh?”

“Indeed, you make me look much better than I do, that’s for sure.”

Dimitri felt his throat go dry when he saw how sudden Claude’s hand had stopped when he’d said that, and sulked away a tad when Claude looked up at him. That faint glow of his eyes grew a bit brighter the longer he stared. Dimitri opened his mouth to speak, but let out a surprised noise instead when Claude had leaned in to give him a kiss. He didn’t linger long, and broke the kiss to continue the drawing.

“Don’t say all that about yourself, Dimi. You’re beautiful. And no, I won’t be arguing with you over it.”

“Claude, I… Hm. Alright. I will take you on your word for now.”

“That’s better than nothing, Dimi. As long as you try, it’s all good.”

The smile that Claude wore relieved any stress that may have come about from the tone he used when saying these things, and Dimitri just sighed and nodded with a small smile as he leaned on his shoulder and watched him draw. Before long, the picture was finished, and Claude had gotten out of bed to put the items away, and laid back down to snuggle up under the covers.

“Oh, are you getting tired finally?”

“Yeah, but I’m not gonna turn the light off if you still wanna read.”

“Oh, no, I stopped a while ago to watch you draw, so I’m ready to try and sleep again. Let me turn the light off really quick.”

He got up, that same small click, and the lights were out. Once he got all covered up, and wrapped his arms around Claude to pull him close with a happy sigh.

“G’night, Dimi.”

“Good night, dearest.”


	5. Chapter 5

The flames of the chandeliers and torches seemed to crackle a little louder around this time of the evening.

Felix wandered the halls of the castle, checking every nook and cranny he could access to ensure that the group had defeated all of the monsters in the area. With a small sigh and a nod of confirmation to himself, he turned around and made his way back to the inn.

"Owwww..."

He froze, looking all around as he scanned the area. That sound was a little too high pitched to be anyone he recognized...

"Who's there?"

The noises continued, and he followed them down the hallway. They seemed to be coming from the direction of the inn, oddly enough. If it was a person in need of help, why didn't they just go to the inn? Well, that question was answered when he came across who, or rather what, had made the sounds. The moment he made eye contact, it hid its face with a frightened squeak.

"What the fuck? What the fuck is a _Scaredy-Scorpion_ doing in the Dark Lord's castle? And why aren't you attacking me?"

The Scaredy-Scorpion whined and trembled as it took a peek through its claws at Felix. It all suddenly made sense the moment he was met with round eyes, black and shiny. This one had no stolen eyes attached to it to control it. It was just a regular Scaredy-Scorpion, harmless as can be.

"You...you're lost, aren't you?"

A small little whine in response.

"I..." Felix looked to the side for a moment, before heaving out a sigh. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to shelter you for the night at the very least. Don't want that cruel-ass Dark Lord to find you and put a face on you, and us have to slaughter you."

The Scaredy-Scorpion let out a small shriek of terror at what Felix had said, and backed away from him a bit. He didn't proceed forward, and just let the monster do what it would do. It watched Felix closely, and when it had calmed itself a bit, scuttled back over. It slowly lowered its claws from its eyes slightly as it looked him over, and took a while to just observe. It jolted back for a moment when Felix had gotten down on his knees, but when it saw that he wasn't going to move more than that for now, it calmed itself again. It let out small little squeaks of curiosity as it inched closer, and reached a claw out. It froze when Felix slowly reached a hand out, but gathered itself to gently rest its claw in his hand.

Felix softly grabbed it, and moved his hand up and down to shake the monster's claw. "Hey there. Nice to meet you."

He smirked slightly at the confused noise the Scaredy-Scorpion made as it watched Felix do this. He was already growing fond of this monster, he knew that much.

Eh, he'll worry about attachments later.

He let go of the monster's claw, and slowly stood up. He was pleased to see the Scaredy-Scorpion was no longer afraid of him, and didn't cower away, only watched him.

"We need to get you inside. C'mon, I'll get you all settled in at the inn, and we'll figure out what to do from there."

He started back on his walk to the inn once again, and would occasionally slow down to turn and call to the Scaredy-Scorpion, and make sure it followed him. It caught on soon enough, and hurried its pace to catch up to him and stay by his side. The sounds of the scuttles echoed through the halls, but neither were particularly bothered. They were the only ones here at this point. Soon they reached the entry archway of the inn.

"Now, there's gonna be some loud noises in here, so just stick by me, okay? I'll make sure you stay safe. No one will hurt you as long as I'm by you."

A squeak in response, and the Scaredy-Scorpion inched closer to wrap its tail around one of Felix's legs.

They took a few steps, but stopped once again as a thought came to Felix's mind.

"Actually... Would you...allow me to pick you up? Caspar might scare you off if you don't stay close at all times until I convince everyone that you're harmless."

The monster looked up at Felix curiously, and made no noises as it tilted its head. Felix only sighed and shook his own.

"I'm probably making a _huge_ mistake by being so bold..." He mumbled to himself, and knelt down to reach his arms out towards the Scaredy-Scorpion. "...Up? I wanna pick you up. You'll be safe. I won't let you fall."

He took his time reaching under the Scaredy-Scorpion, and held on to it gently. When he saw it made no negative reactions, he started to raise his arms, and began to lift it up. He'd pause when it would whine, but once it had time to calm itself, he continued. It was a bit heavy, he wouldn't lie, but it wasn't heavy enough to be worried about dropping it because he was being so slow with his movements. He mumbled a bit in confusion as he tried to figure out how to hold the Scaredy-Scorpion close, but when he'd pulled it close to him, it had climbed up a bit and turned to wrap its arms around his neck lightly, and grab hold of his torso with its legs. It wrapped its tail around his torso as well, resting its stinger against itself as to not poke him on accident.

"...I suppose this works. C'mon, let's go in now. Just be prepared for a lot of loud noises, okay?"

* * *

"Hey, Felix you're finally back- AAAAH WHAT THE _FUCK_ YOU'VE GOT A _SCAREDY-SCORPION_ LATCHED ONTO YOU!!"

The Scaredy-Scorpion cried out in fright at the volume of Caspar's yelling, and Felix tightened his hold on it as Caspar approached, fists high as he readied to punch.

"Back the fuck off! It's harmless! I found it near the inn with no stolen eyes attached to it!"

"Huh? What the fuck's the problem-"

Claude froze in place as he saw what was going on. He couldn't really find a way to respond aside from a raised brow as he looked Felix and the Scaredy-Scorpion up and down.

"Uh... Mind explaining...whatever this is?"

"I was on the patrol, and was on my way back after finishing and putting the area in the clear. All of a sudden, I hear this 'owwww' whiny noise, and I follow it to find this Scaredy-Scorpion out of nowhere. I guess it's lost, since it's completely harmless, so I decided to bring it back here before the Dark Lord or some other monster got a hold of it to put a stolen face on it."

Claude hummed in response, and made his way closer, and put a hand on Caspar's shoulder to move him away. The Scaredy-Scorpion was visibly trembling in Felix's arms, those round eyes watching Claude with fear.

"Hey there, are you lost?" Claude asked it softly.

A few little whines in response.

"Awww, I'm sorry..." Claude replied, and carefully reached out to the monster to give it a few soft pets atop its head, minding his nails to not accidentally poke it. "Felix was right, we'll keep you safe from the Dark Lord. We won't hurt you, since you don't have any stolen face parts on you. We only hurt monsters that hurt us first and have stolen face parts on them, to save the faces."

Neither were sure it could even understand what Claude had been saying to it, but it still made noises in response nonetheless. It was much more relaxed now, too, now that Caspar had left the room and Claude had been speaking softly to it to assure it.

"I'll let you take care of it, since it very clearly trusts you."

"That's fine by me. I uh...may have accidentally gotten a little fond of it by now..."

Claude only chuckled at that, and backed up to turn and head back out of the door of the room.

"I'm gonna let everyone know, so they know it's safe and won't try to hurt it."

"Thank you, I'm going to get it comfortable in my room, and let it explore and get used to the area."

And with that, Felix headed towards his room, the Scaredy-Scorpion in his arms.

* * *

"Oh! Felix, you're-OH!"

"Shhh." Felix shook his head at Ashe with a frown. "It's safe. Don't be too loud or you'll scare it."

Felix closed the door and knelt down, and made to grab hold of the Scaredy-Scorpion's midsection again.

"C'mon, you can get down now. Explore the room, since it's where you'll be staying until everyone knows you're safe."

It held on tight to Felix for a while, but eventually gave in and let Felix pull it away to be set down onto the floor. It nervously scuttled about, looking all around at the room and peeking in various corners that it could access. Felix and Ashe watched it intently, and followed it around to keep an eye on it when it wandered about in farther parts of the room. It grabbed a bit of the blanket that hung down from their bed, and lifted it to carefully peek under the bed and look around. Once it was satisfied, it let go of the blanket and wandered back over to Felix to look up at him. He hummed at it in question as he sat down on the bed next to Ashe once he'd gotten comfortable again, and pat the spot next to him invitingly.

"You want up here? Can you jump?"

The Scaredy-Scorpion looked between Felix and the spot he patted on the bed a few times, and crouched down with a shimmy. It leaped up, but only made it halfway up the bed before it fell back down with a noise of shock. Ashe had to cover his mouth to hide his grin as he concealed a giggle, and Felix quickly reached out his hands with a look of surprise.

"Oh, I guess you can't jump that high... C'mere, I'll get you up here. C'mon."

The Scaredy-Scorpion shook a bit as it recovered, and walked over to Felix as his wiggled his fingers to get its attention. He lifted it up, and set it down by him on the spot he had been patting. It looked down at the bed with wide eyes, and wobbled as it walked around the bed to try and adjust to it. It was probably hiding out in the castle for a long while if this is how it would react to a bed, considering its natural habitat and the sand Scaredy-Scorpions always tread on. Felix stood for a moment to remove his boots and armor, and put them away before heading back to the bed to get comfortable. He rested his arms behind his head and closed his eyes. Only when he felt pokes that tickled his stomach and heard a small "meep?" sound did he open them again. 

"Hello. Can I help you?"

Right in his face was the Scaredy-Scorpion, observing him closely. It put a claw out to poke one of his cheeks lightly.

"What're you doing, you nosy thing? I'm just relaxing a bit before dinner."

Ashe giggled as it poked Felix a few more times, and backed up to curl up and get comfy atop his torso.

"It's so cute!" Ashe said happily. "I hope we can keep it for a while! It's so friendly!"

"Hm. I agree, it's a good pet for the inn. Once everyone gets used to it, it may be useful as emotional support. Just gotta keep it happy, too."

"Oh, definitely. But if it'll be staying for even just a few days, wouldn't it be weird to just call it by the name of its species, or 'it' and 'thing'?"

"You're right, I suppose. What would we even name it, though? We don't even know its gender."

Ashe hummed and furrowed his brows as he took a moment to think. Felix watched him until he turned to look back at Felix again.

"How about uh...Meep? It's all cute, and it's like the noises it makes when it's curious about something!"

Felix raised a brow and took a glance at the Scaredy-Scorpion, who had just been watching the two converse this whole time without a sound.

"Do you like that, Meep?"

A "meep" sound in response.

"I guess it likes that name. I guess we'll call you Meep from now on."

* * *

"So how's the Scaredy-Scorpion holding up?"

"It's adjusted quite well. Ashe and I named it Meep."

"Meep, huh?" Claude asked with a grin. "It's an odd name coming from you, but I like it. It's cute."

Felix didn't even begin to try and unpack what that could mean, and just took another bite of his Devil's Food Cake he'd picked out for his desert. By now Claude had made everyone aware of Meep's presence, and told the story to assure Meep was safe to be around them.

"So, Felix, what is Meep like?" Dimitri asked curiously. "Are they nice?"

Felix nodded, and finished chewing and swallowing his food before responding. "Meep is very nosy, and friendly when feeling safe. Meep will reach a claw out and poke your cheeks if you're relaxing in bed and they decide to climb up on you. Pretty heavy, too, but not too heavy, so it isn't too uncomfortable when Meep curls up to get comfy. Doesn't give off any body heat either, so that's a plus."

Dimitri grinned and chuckled. "I like Meep already."

"Don't think that you'll get every waking moment with Meep. Meep is _my_ pet. Unless Meep comes to you first of course..."

Everyone had fallen back into casual chatting after that, until the sound of footsteps and scuttles entered the room. The group looked up to see Ashe and Meep standing in the archway.

"Alright, I've convinced Meep to come out of the room and explore the rest of the inn, so be cautious of the volume of your voices, alright? Let Meep come to you, and don't make too sudden of movements until they're comfortable with you."

The entire room fell silent as Meep wandered about, lifting parts of the tablecloth to peek under and look around. Meep would occasionally take peeks up at the others at the table, and would look at them for a few moments before returning to exploring the room. Felix stood up to follow Meep around, and keep them out of places they didn't need to be in. Meep took being told 'no' well, and didn't return to places not allowed, and that was definitely a plus. Meep finally returned to the table to check everyone out and observe them. Meep scuttled up to Hilda first, who took in a shaky breath and put a hand down. She had to hold in a squeal of fright when Meep grabbed her hand and pulled it close to look at it, turning it this way and that. She eventually got used to it, though, and the fear slowly began to fade away.

"Wh-what're you doing, Meep? Is there something on my hand?"

A quiet "meep".

"They're curious about your hand, it'll be alright. Just checking it out."

"O-okay..."

Meep used the other claw to grab her fingers to pull at and examine, and once all five were looked at closer, Meep let Hilda's hand go and proceeded onwards to Lysithea. She was less fearful, but still cautious as she put her own hand down for Meep to take and look at.

"I think Meep is a male, looking at the claws and tail."

"Oh?" Claude took a peek at Meep and looked closer. "Yeah, I think you may be right. It's the male Scaredy-Scorpions with slightly bigger claws and rounder bases of the stinger, right? And it's the reverse for Scary Scorpions, if I remember right."

Lysithea nodded, and let out a small giggle when Meep took his free claw to lightly poke the palms of her hands. "Hey, that tickles, Meep."

He was satisfied by then, and continued onwards to look up at everyone else, and didn't take their hands when offered. Until he reached Dimitri. Meep was nervous around Dimitri. He whined slightly as he cautiously put a claw up, and tried not to jerk it away when Dimitri lowered his hand to take hold.

"Are you alright, Meep? I won't hurt you, I promise." Dimitri said sweetly.

Meep made a noise similar to a sad hum, and quickly looked between his claw and Dimitri's face. He was trying his hardest to stay calm, but there was something about Dimitri that made him cautious. Was it the look in his eyes that showed deeper things hidden away? Was it his voice, and how deep it was? Meep wasn't entirely sure why this person was so intimidating, when he felt so safe here already. He knew he wouldn't be harmed by this person, but it still couldn't stop the intimidation.

"Boar, you'd better let Meep go if he feels unsafe and wants to move away."

"I will, do not worry. I refuse to force him to stay in a situation that will make him feel scared and in danger."

"You'd better not force him if you know what's good for you."

Meep looked over at Felix, and moved his claw away to scuttle over and wrap his tail around Felix's leg again. He let out a happy clicking sound when Felix reached down to pet the top of his head, like Claude had done earlier. He allowed Meep to crawl up his legs to curl up in his lap, and continued to pet him as he got comfortable.

"Felix, are you seriously doing that? Are you seriously letting a giant scorpion lay on your lap at the table?"

"Yes." He said shortly, not even looking Hilda's way. "As long as he doesn't try to get up here while I'm eating, and doesn't try to get up on the table, I will continue to allow him."

"I can agree with those terms." Claude added. "And speaking of eating, what do Scaredy-Scorpions even eat?"

"They're pretty much like garbage disposals, they'll eat pretty much anything you give them. They even eat other Scaredy-Scorpions, and also eat Scary Scorpions when they can manage it." Lysithea said.

"Hm. If that's the case, we don't have to worry about feeding him the wrong thing, since all the stuff we have should be safe for him." Felix mumbled. "Alright then, I'm gonna see what we can spare for him to munch on. I dunno how long it's been since he last ate."

Felix resituated Meep to hold him, and stood to walk around the dining area and look through all the food items they have. Not many of the group like BBQ Scorpion, in fact most hate it, so he decided this would do. He grabbed a plate, and got the BBQ Scorpion placed on it, and knelt down to put Meep down on the ground and place the plate down in front of him.

"There you go, Meep. Are you hungry?"

Meep looked at it with confusion, and circled the plate to poke the scorpion on it. It didn't make any movements, and that's when Meep decided to lean in close to it. Felix could see Meep's head moving up and down ever so slightly, so he assumed that Meep may have been sniffing it. His assumptions were confirmed when Meep grabbed the scorpion off of the plate to hold it up to his face, and small crunches could be heard as he took experimental nibbles. A squeak of delight, and Meep took in even more, and ate the BBQ Scorpion right up.

"Well now, you sure did like that, huh? Want more?"

Felix grabbed another to offer him, but he took a few sniffs and put a claw up to gently push Felix's hand away.

"Do Scaredy-Scorpions not eat much?"

"Not that I recall, no." Lysithea replied. "From what I've learned from research, they only require a single meal every few days, but will still eat more than that if so desired and the resources are easily accessible."

Felix hummed and looked at the BBQ Scorpion in his hands. He scrunched his nose and took a deep breath, and took a bite out of it. He shook his head at the taste, but forced the rest of it down, and coughed once he'd finally gotten it all eaten.

"Goddess, that stuff is nasty..."

Meep looked up at him worriedly, and he got down on his knees to allow Meep to check him over. He was surprised when Meep began to sniff at his eyes, and he could feel the tiny puffs of air from them as Meep did so, but couldn't see anything that could resemble a nose anywhere on Meep's face. There was no visible mouth he could find, either. Finally Meep was finished, and backed away to let Felix stand up again. Meep grabbed and tugged at his pants, and kept tugging until Felix began to walk. He led Felix out of the room and to his room, and stood at the door.

"What, are you ready for bed?"

A hum in reply.

"Well, I am a bit tired from today, so I guess an early bedtime wouldn't hurt. Let me let everyone know we're going to bed."

He headed back to the dining room to peek in.

"Meep led me to the bedroom, so I guess it's time for me to head to bed. I'll see you all tomorrow."

"Oh! Good night, you two!" Dimitri said with a smile. "I hope that you have good dreams."

Felix only gave a single quick nod in response, and he was gone again. Ashe stood up, empty plate in hand, and grabbed Felix's own and the one on the ground to go wash them.

"Are you going to head to bed as well?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty tuckered out, too." Ashe put the now clean plates away, and headed out of the room. "Good night, everyone!"

* * *

The day made Felix a lot more tired than he first thought he was, and he was out before he knew it.

Ashe and Meep were still awake, both lying down in bed. Meep had made his way beneath the blanket, and snuggled up in between Ashe and Felix. He could purr, Ashe had come to find out, and was doing so as he laid down with his claws folded to rest on top of them. He hummed happily when he felt Ashe begin to softly pet his head, and before long he too had fallen asleep, and the purrs finally stopped. With the silence now filling the room, and how peaceful it all was, Ashe finally let his own eyes close.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Will I be thinking up a bunch of scientific stuff for monsters and other things in this fic and this AU in general? Yes. Will I be able to put this same amount of effort and thought into things that require it outside of artistic expression? Likely not.


	6. Chapter 6

"Yay, you're all back- WHAT happened?!"

Ashe stopped in his tracks, frozen from the shock of what he'd walked in on. Into the inn Claude, Felix, Beres, and Byleth trudged, covered in wounds from head to toe. And what also looked to be...burns?

"What happened to you all while you were out?! It's past midnight!"

"Well...if you want a short and sweet...we fought a fucking dragon..."

Felix stumbled a bit as he limped towards Claude, who already had gotten the HP Sprinkles out to use. He helped Felix shake some into the wounds he couldn't access on his own, and he shook some into the ones he could reach himself. He helped Claude with his own, and handed the bottle back to him so he could pass it around. Once Felix could move normally again, he made a break straight for the bathhouse.

* * *

Felix heaved out a sigh as he soaked in the hot spring, and let his eyes fall closed as he took time to relax. Claude, Beres, and Byleth didn't stick around once they were finished bathing, and headed straight to bed without dinner. But Felix wasn't tired yet, oddly enough, so he spent his time here, to give his body a break. He didn't notice just how relaxed he'd become, until he jolted in surprise when the sound of something entering the water caught his attention. He quickly turned to look, but immediately relaxed again when he saw Ashe get comfortably seated and scoot closer to him.

"It must've been quite a battle for you all to come back looking so beat up."

"It was tough, yes." Felix replied. "But we saved a pair of eyes, and the dragon survived and was fine after the eyes flew off. His name's Dominic, and he's a lot more friendly than you'd think a dragon would be."

Ashe nodded, and leaned his head against Felix's own, and grinned when Felix grabbed a hand to hold.

"I'm just glad you're okay."

"I am, too. I was fully prepared to come back for you and Meep, and spend time with the both of you."

"Oh, speaking of Meep," Ashe said with a giggle, "He was exploring the inn a bit, and he decided to hide something of Caspar's since he was being all loud and mean. It was the funniest thing to see Meep actually snickering at Caspar's expense! I feel so mean for wording it like that, but it's true!"

"Oh, geez, I wish I could've been here to see that. That'd probably be a rare thing that'd make me laugh, too."

"Oh, I _know_ you would've laughed, too-"

A curious "meep?" interrupted them, and they turn to see Meep scuttling in towards them.

"Meep? How'd you get in here?"

He turned to look back at the now open door of the bathhouse.

"Meep can open doors on his own, huh?" Felix mumbled curiously. "Now that's gonna be a problem if he's out of the room and we're having private time..."

"Hm? What'd you say, Fe?"

"N-Nothing, just mumbling to myself..."

* * *

Ashe and Felix had been snuggled up in bed for a while, just holding each other close as the time passed by. Neither were feeling tired just yet, so what better way to spend empty minutes than with each other?

"Hey, Fe?"

"What is it?"

"Well, I uh..."

Felix opened his mouth to question the hesitation, but he was interrupted by Ashe pulling him into a kiss before he could say anything. The two melted into it, not daring to pull away.

"F-Fe..."

Ashe gasped out when Felix had turned them both to pin him onto the bed, and leaned back in to leave a trail of little kisses down his throat. Ashe bit his lip when he felt the subtlest of brushes against his hips as Felix resituated, and he pulled Felix back into another kiss.

"Fe..." Ashe broke the kiss to stare up into those eyes he adored so much, ones that didn't look away this time despite the prolonged eye contact. Ones that looked right back into his own with nothing but love and adoration that matched that intensity. "Can we...Can we experiment a little tonight?"

"I don't see why not."

_Tap, tap, tap._

The two suddenly stilled as the small sounds of tapping against the door were heard. Felix visibly slumped as he sighed in disappointment.

"...I can _hear_ why not, though."

He gave Ashe an apologetic look before rolling off of him to stand and walk over to the door, and opened it just enough to let Meep inside. He scuttled inside, and looked between Felix and Ashe a few times before heading over to the corner of the room near the window, and curled up to get comfortable. He opened an eye to watch Felix head back to bed and lie down next to Ashe and pull him close, but closed it again after the two had gotten situated. Long moments of silence passed, and suddenly the small sounds of snores could be heard from that corner.

"Awww, he snores, that's so cute."

"Yeah, I suppose so."

"Hey Fe, are you upset about us being interrupted? You seem a little put off now..."

Felix shook his head, and gave Ashe a kiss on the forehead.

"No, I'm not upset, it's not like he knew we were doing anything like that. Though I...guess some place like the bathhouse might be our best bet after all in this case..."

"O-oh...! Well...I'm not opposed to it. Maybe we can find that lock for the bathhouse door and put it to good use sometime soon."

"I think that's as good a plan as any."


	7. Chapter 7

This was it. The big day.

The day of the final battle, the battle with the Dark Lord.

Claude had changed back to the Warrior Job just for the occasion, and readied his Bronze armor and Black Katana for the fight. Felix had his own Bronze Armor all fixed up, and his Dragon Sword in hand, already prepared. As were Dimitri and Byleth, fully suited in their Copper Armor, and Byleth with his Paladin Sword, and Dimitri with his own Dragon Sword. The four had even eaten breakfast in their armor, just in case. But it was finally time to head out.

"Well, everyone, we're heading out now. Wish us luck out there."

"We know you can give that Dark Lord the ass kicking he deserves!" Hilda said enthusiastically, and ran over to give Claude a quick hug, then returned to her spot next to Lysithea and Bernadetta. "Good luck out there, guys!"

As everyone else gave their goodbyes and good luck wishes, Ashe stared on sadly. He watched Felix's every move, and the anxiety filling up his chest and constricting his throat only grew more unbearable once the four all said their final goodbyes.

"Wait!"

They turn to look at Ashe, who had stood up and ran over to Felix. "L-Let me come with you!"

"No. I already told you, I don't want to risk your safety."

"But-"

" _Ashe._ "

He looked to the ground, and Felix let out a sigh before pulling him in for a hug.

"I _will_ be coming back to you. I _refuse_ to die out there. I have you and Meep depending on me, and I'm not going to throw that away by letting myself get careless and be killed in the process."

He moved back just enough to give Ashe a small kiss, and wiped away the tears that Ashe had begun to shed. He meant these things. He was more determined than he'd ever been before to keep himself alive, to protect and fight with everything he had. He had this beautiful soul by his side, that stuck by him no matter what, and he would never forgive himself if he were to mess that up in any way.

"Wait for me. I'll be coming back to you, and coming back _alive._ " He whispers.

"...Okay." Ashe replies, the faintest of smiles on his face now. "I believe in you. I'll be waiting right here for you to welcome you back."

Ashe finally let Felix go, as much as he hated to do it. But he knew Felix was telling the truth. He believed in Felix. He knew Felix would keep to his word. So he let Felix go, and stepped back to let him follow the others out of the inn.

"I believe in you, Felix."

* * *

The throne room of the castle didn't look much different than the halls, save for how gigantic and ornate the throne itself was. Spikes and ornamental pillars all around, the entirety a deep shadowy shade.

"A showy and extra throne for a showy and extra asshole." Felix mumbled.

As if on cue, a familiar chill blew into the air, and with a whoosh, looming above, was the Dark Lord himself. He let out a laugh as he looked down upon the group.

**"Well, look who it is!"**

"We're ready for you, Dark Lord!" Claude cried.

**"Aww, is the widdle adventure party gonna beat me up?"**

A small chuckle. Another. And yet another, before the Dark Lord burst into a fit of laughter. The group only glared on, not daring to look away.

"What's so fucking funny?!" Felix growled as he brandished his sword.

**"Aren't you just precious."** The Dark Lord finally said, after the laughter had calmed. **"And you came all the way here to play with me. But playtime's nearly over. I'll just help myself to those cute little faces! And your souls! And finally, YOUR _LIVES!_ "**

"What?! There's _no_ way we're losing to you!"

The group all readied their weapons, and with another chuckle, the Dark Lord readied himself to fight.

"Prepare to taste defeat, Dark Lord!"

* * *

It was clear that the Dark Lord was confident in himself in the beginning, but was having doubts as the battle raged on.

He still kept up his fronts of confidence, but he had been surprised time and time again by how strong the group was. He'd been caught from behind many a time, the group all worked together to attack him, and seemed to be able to make strategy plans on the fly by the efficiency they showed. He quickly cast a spell to lure Dimitri into a nightmare before he could lunge, and made his moves to put distance the moment Dimitri collapsed. Byleth and Felix didn't let him get too far, and chased him every step of the way.

"N-No... NO! _STOP!_ _DON'T_ HURT GLENN! _LEAVE HIM ALONE!_ "

Dimitri writhed in his spot, screaming out as he tried his hardest to fight against this nightmare, but to no avail. Felix didn't hear a single word, too focused on getting his attacks in to pay Dimitri any mind, as was Byleth.

"Dimitri!"

Claude ran up, and pulled Dimitri into a sitting position, mumbling a small apology before raising a hand.

"Snap out of it!"

A swift slap that echoed through the room, and Dimitri awoke with a shout. He didn't take long to recover, hearing the cries of Byleth as he was picked up to be flung across the room and a loud thud as he landed.

"Thank you, Claude," Dimitri said quickly, "let us get back out there and help them!"

The pair stood up and charged right back in. Apparently the Dark Lord hadn't noticed, since he was caught off guard by the pair attacking him with a Pincer. As they kept him occupied, Felix took out his small bottle of HP Sprinkles he had been given from the main bottle as a ration of sorts, and ran over to Byleth. He looked up at Felix with a groan, and didn't say anything when he was yanked up to sit, only winced at the pain that shot through his body and up his spine.

"No time to be lying around, Professor, get up and get back out there." Felix said as he shook some of the sprinkles onto Byleth's torso. "You can have paralysis later, for now you have to fight."

Relief relaxed Byleth's body as the sprinkles took effect, and he took his sword with a nod when it was handed to him.

"Many thanks. I'll repay you for this soon."

The two stood, and ran back into the fray.

* * *

The inn was a bit quiet.

Everyone had been chatting on and off occasionally, but the rest of the time was spent in the main area, wishing the group well and worrying about how they could be holding up. With Hilda's help, Beres had managed to get everyone chatting again to lift everyone's spirits.

Well, everyone except Ashe.

He didn't look away from the window he'd seated himself by the entire time the four had been out, unless he needed to eat, use the restroom, or to interact with Meep. Before long, Meep had also been peeking out the window as he got comfortable on Ashe's lap. He looked up at Ashe with a small squeak, and clicked happily when Ashe looked back down at him with a smile as he softly pet Meep's head.

"I'll be okay, Meep. Just...waiting for Felix to get back is all..."

"Ashe?"

He turned to see Bernadetta walking over, a mug in hand that she offered him.

"W-Would you like some chocolate milk?"

He smiled and nooded, and took the mug and had a sip. "Thanks, Bernie. It's delicious."

She smiled down at her feet, and shuffled in place shyly.

"Would it be okay if I...sit by you? Everyone else are getting too loud and it's too crowded over there..."

"Sure, I don't mind at all. Make yourself as comfortable as you'd like."

Bernadetta hesitantly nodded, and pulled up a chair to sit down next to Ashe, and also looked out the window. As the rest of the group chatted on, Ashe, Bernadetta, and Meep all watched through the window in silence for a while.

"...You and Felix are really close, huh?"

"Hm?" Ashe gave Bernadetta a curious look. "What do you mean?"

"W-Well," she stuttered nervously, "you and Felix are already so close despite only being together for a few months, a-and you two are pretty much inseparable, excluding mission stuff. You've got him grinning when he looks at you. Not the usual smirky, aggressive kind, but a big, goofy, and genuine one. He really cares about you a lot. You even got him liking sweet foods!"

The two looked at each other in silence for a few moments, before Ashe nodded again, his smile much warmer than before.

"Yeah, that's all true, isn't it? I care about him so much, and now that we're grown and don't have to worry about duties from the Officers Academy getting in the way of anything for us, we could finally pursue our feelings for each other."

"Wow, you two have had feelings for each other for all that time?"

"We sure did." Ashe replied. "He and I wanted so badly to try and see where things would go between us back then, but we both also knew it'd be for the best if we didn't try while we were all still at the Academy. Plus, Sylvain and Ingrid were always seeking him out for a variety of reasons, so who knows what could've happened if they started talking to him about us..."

Bernadetta winced at the mention of Sylvain and Ingrid's names, and Ashe giggled.

"Yeah, I don't think it would've went well... Ingrid's all scary and not too tolerant of these things, and Sylvain is...Sylvain."

Ashe let out a true laugh at that, and nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, he wouldn't let us hear the end of it. And knowing how close he likes to stick to Felix even now when the two see each other, I already know he's always had feelings for Felix, too, so that would just complicate things even more..."

"Wait, Sylvain liked Felix like that, too? I didn't think..."

"Yeah, he's very openly bi, and always has been. The rumors about him that I always heard were filled to the brim with men he's had under his belt too before I knew it. But Felix doesn't feel that way for him anymore, and admitted that he had finally moved on during the Academy days, and was helped by being tired of getting hurt over seeing him with women all the time."

"Aw, poor Felix..."

"Yeah..." Ashe said sadly. "But that's all in the past now. And Fe and I are together and happy. We're finally by each other's sides in the way we both have wanted for so long, and I'm so happy, happier than I've ever been before."

Bernadetta smiled at him, and the two fell silent once again. Meep was fast asleep in Ashe's lap now, and Ashe and Bernadetta went right back to looking out the window, awaiting Claude, Felix, Dimitri, and Byleth's return.

* * *

The Dark Lord was having to fight to keep that composure now. He'd been backed into a corner to be defeated at any moment, and he knew it. So he did the best thing he could think of.

**"I'm sorry, did you think you were doing well?"**

With a cast of magic, the small grunts of two Imps echoed through the room as they appeared at each of the Dark Lord's sides. But these Imps weren't like the others the group had faced before in the castle's halls.

These Imps were blue, and faceless.

Before the group could make any moves, the Dark Lord raised his hands with a cackle, eyes glowing gold as he used another magical skill. Claude froze, eyes wide, and then...

Off came his face, flying over to the Imp to the Dark Lord's right. The other three stared at him in shock.

"Claude!" Felix shouted.

Dimitri also stopped, his expression one of fright before his own face was stolen to be placed onto the other Imp.

"Dimitri!" Byleth said in shock.

Claude and Dimitri both cried out in fright, muffled by the lack of a mouth they had. They dropped their swords, and hugged themselves tight as they trembled in fear. Felix and Byleth turned to the Dark Lord and the Imps, readying their swords and lunging with angry yells.

"GIVE THEM BACK THEIR FACES, YOU MONSTER!"

**"It's time for you to FACE the facts!"** The Dark Lord growled out, and pointed at Claude and Dimitri. The Imps readied their pitchforks, and lunged right for them, with one hit on Dimitri by the Imp with his own face, and all the rest of the barrage wearing Claude down by both Imps. He tried the best he could to avoid them, but without sight, there wasn't much he could do aside from fall onto the ground and crawl away, and use his hearing to try and pick up on movement near him. But that didn't turn out in his favor, since the Imps never touched the ground.

Felix let out a snarl as he starting focusing on the Dark Lord to wear him down even further. Byleth was right by his side, laying in the slices everywhere he could reach, with a few added Spin Slashes to get the Imps worn down, too. A Double Slash from Felix that had the Dark Lord on the ground, and Byleth took the chance to do one last Spin Slash, and aimed it perfectly as to behead the Imps right then and there. The faces poofed off in that familiar blue light, and flew right back to their owners. Claude and Dimitri both took in large gulps of air the moment they were back to normal, and took a few seconds to recover as they gathered their bearings. They got themselves healed up with a few shakes of their HP Sprinkles, and hurried over to their swords to grab them.

"Now, I'm not the angry type..." Claude started, his voice low. His sword had begun to emit a soft glow, and a deep hum as he approached the Dark Lord slowly. Felix and Byleth got out of his way and hurried back over to stand next to Dimitri, who followed a ways behind him.

"But you've easily managed to _PISS ME OFF!_ "

Claude made a run for the Dark Lord, sword at the ready as he readied himself to attack.

"I will help!" Dimitri shouted to him as he ran up next to him.

"And me!" Felix added.

"And me!" Byleth said as well.

"Fine by me!" Claude jumped high into the air, his sword now glowing bright, the energy coming off in gold, green, and blue sparks.

" _JUMP SLASH +3!!_ "

With that final blow, the Dark Lord let out a scream. He growled as he reached up, grasping for something the group couldn't quite figure out, but had finally collapsed, the impact hard enough to make the room rumble and shake.

It was done. The Dark Lord was defeated.

The group watched him closely, and stepped back when they noticed the necklace he'd been wearing that had fallen off of him began to glow and pulse. It pulsed faster and faster, until the necklace broke into pieces, disintegrating into thin air. They looked on in shock as the form of the Dark Lord rippled, distorted, and faded, until nothing but a person's body was left behind. Claude's eyes widened as he saw just who had been lying down on the ground unconscious.

"No... It can't be... Ignatz?"

He hurried over, sitting down on his knees to pick Ignatz up and cradle him close. He moved the stray bits of hair out of Ignatz's eyes, and fixed his glasses. This was definitely Ignatz, there was no denying this in the slightest. How long had passed, none of them knew, but finally, Claude felt Ignatz shuffle around a bit, before slowly opening his eyes with a groan.

"Ugh..." He blinked a few times to get used to the light of the fires lighting up the room, and turned his head to look up at Claude. "Who... Wait, Claude? Is that...you?"

"Yeah, it's me!" He said happily. "What the hell happened? Are you okay now?"

"My...everything hurts."

"Here, let's try and get you standing."

Ignatz put an arm over Claude's shoulder, and with a bit of struggle, the two stood up. It took a few seconds to stop the wobble in his legs, but once he was sure he could stand on his own, he pulled his arm away.

"I'm so confused right now..." Ignatz mumbled sadly. "I need a nap..."

Before Claude could ask him anything else, away he went, out of the Dark Lord's throne room. Claude walked back over to the others, grinning wide as he looked between them.

"We did it. We defeated the Dark Lord, and saved Ignatz."

"A difficult battle, but we succeeded."

"Yeah, well fought. All of you did well." Felix glanced at Dimitri with a raised brow. "Even you, Boar."

"Oh!" Dimitri smiled wide and clapped his hands together. "This is a _very_ big compliment coming from you! I will take this to heart and treasure it!"

"Fucking hell, don't go all sappy over it. It's gross..."

As the group conversed a bit, they didn't notice one very important thing that had been watching them float up and away. They'd been caught up in a few extra check-ups on themselves, and healing the last bit of their wounds with the HP Sprinkles they had left, and were startled by the footsteps that hurried towards them. They almost poised for battle again, until a familiar white and blue cloak came into view.

The wearer of that cloak stopped, and glanced in the direction that Ignatz had headed.

"...Huh."

They turned again to look back at the group.

"Did you just beat the Dark Lord? I cannot say I'm too surprised. I knew you had it in you."

"Aw, it was nothin', Linhardt!" Claude chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head. "I mean, it wasn't exactly _nothing_ , and was actually _really_ tough, but I think you get the idea."

The watcher of the group, a wispy being with a single eye, lowered itself back down once again, and floated right above them. Linhardt looked up with a surprised "huh?!", his staff raised as he eyed the wisp. The wisp aimed itself right for Claude, and shot right for him. He only noticed as it grew closer by the second, and flailed his arms in shock.

He let out a yell as he was suddenly shoved back.

"Look out!"

Linhardt spread his arms out, blocking Claude from the wisp, and shut his eyes tight to prepare for the impact. A sudden flash, and everything turned white. When that whiteness finally faded away, the group looked up in fright.

Much bigger than anything experienced before, dressed in white instead of black, skin paler than snow, was a being much more sinister and much more dark than the Dark Lord could hope to be.

The being looked at his free hand, and the large staff he held, a grin spreading across his face.

**"Are you joking?! I get Great Sage powers too?!"** He laughed evilly as he examined the claws on his free hand closer. **"This is even better than being a Dark Lord! I'm now...an even Darker Lord!"**

With a cackle, he disappeared into a cloud of darkness. The group glared on angrily at the spot where the Darker Lord had been.

_"Ho ho! It's just me, your mighty and infallible guardian. I see you've gotten into quite a lot of trouble this time."_

The group sulked sadly.

_"So, the Dark Lord's true form is that little wispy thing, eh? It possessed Ignatz's normal human body? And now it's moved on to Great Sage Linhardt?"_

The group's anger returned, with Claude stomping his foot a few times to get out the worst of it, Byleth clenching his fists as he glared back at that spot, and Felix and Dimitri crossing their arms with a growl.

_"It's not just the body you have to worry about this time."_ The guardian continued. _"The Great Sage's magic makes the enemy much more powerful. But you've come a long way, I'm sure you're pretty tough by now. Think you can save the world again, from an even worse foe? I'd be much obliged! Ho ho!"_

The guardian's presence faded away before more could be said. The four walked over to the large window in the room, and looked down upon Karkaton, and the red skies, filled with pitch black clouds as thunder and lightning raged on.

"...Linhardt saved me..."

Claude put his head down, and bit back a sob. He held it in. He didn't want to lose his grasp here. He'd successfully pushed the urge to cry down, and wiped away a tear that had welled up in one of his eyes.

"And now it is up to us to return the favor." Dimitri replied, and put a hand on Claude's shoulder reassuringly.

"There's just one problem, though..."

"And what might that be?"

"How are we going to follow the Darker Lord?"

"Ah...I see." Dimitri sighed. "That is indeed a problem, isn't it?"

The group backed away from the window, and began their trek out of the room. The emptiness that filled the halls was almost unnerving as they made their trip back to the inn. But all of that was cut off when the silence was suddenly interrupted.

"Hi again."

They pause, and turn to look behind them. Their gaze goes up, right up to little round eyes that squeezed shut as a yawn shook the area. A few blinks, and they looked right back at them. A tilt of his head, and Dominic spoke again.

"You look sad. Are you sad?"

"Well...Y'see-"

"Ahhh, I see... The Darker Lord, is it? I can help! I like helping!"

"How so?" Dimitri asked curiously, and grinned when Dominic only smiled and replied with "leave it to me" before trotting the other way, motioning with his tail for the others to follow him. They followed with no questions asked, and they had all exited the castle. Dominic turned his head just enough to glance back at them.

"Hop on!"

* * *

With a _woosh_ , Dominic had quickly taken to the sky. Dimitri sat atop his head, one arm around Claude's middle, the other raised up in the air as he cheered in excitement. Byleth held on to his hands as he held Byleth close. And Felix stuttered and shouted in fright as he held on for dear life to Dominic's tail with his arms and his legs. A call that reached as far as the eye could see, and Dominic flew off, with Claude, Dimitri, and Byleth cheering, and Felix squealing in terror.

* * *

It was late into the night, and Ashe still hadn't left that spot at the window unless he needed to tend to his, or Meep's needs. Meep had since gotten off of Ashe's lap, and stayed by the bedroom door, and would occasionally whine as he looked up at it. It was past 2:30 in the morning, but to Ashe, it felt like an eternity. The anxiety that plagued him had returned hours ago, and only grew worse as the minutes ticked by. He fought dwelling on his worries the best he could, but it was becoming harder and harder to do with the lump in his throat making it harder to breathe. He squeezed his eyes shut, fighting back the tears as best as he could. He didn't want to cry. He didn't want to cry and make himself feel worse. He believed in Felix, he had those hopes he would return, but it wasn't like he could prevent himself from thinking about the 'what-if' at this point. He was sad, he was worried, he was scared. And he was tired. He battled so many things at once in this moment, from his tears, to his negative thoughts, to the drooping of his eyes as he tried not to fall asleep. He wanted to be awake when Felix got back, to welcome him. But unfortunately, his exhaustion won.

The entry doors to the inn opened softly, and in the four came, trying their hardest to be as quiet as can be to not wake anyone up. Felix looked in, and spotted Ashe sitting at the chair he'd pulled up the the window, hunched over with his head resting on his arms as he slept. Felix's expression saddened a bit as he noticed the furrow in Ashe's brow, knowing right away he'd fallen asleep with something on his mind. He walked over, and softly put a hand on Ashe's shoulder.

"Hey. Ashe."

It almost surprised Felix how quickly those eyes shot open, and Ashe turned to practically leap up into his arms.

"Felix, you're _OKAY!_ "

"Shhhh, calm down a bit, alright? It's late." Felix laughed as Meep also squeaked with joy and ran up to him to pull on his cloak. He bent down to lift Meep up and cradle him with one arm, and pulled Ashe back in with the other. "I told you I'd be back, and I'd be back alive. I meant what I said."

"I know, and I believed in you. I may have been scared and worried about you, but I still believed you'd come back."

Felix smiled the best he could as Ashe leaned in to give him a kiss, and the two looked at each other a moment after he'd pulled away.

"It was tough, but we managed to take him down, and save Ignatz while we were at it." Claude said. "But, as much as it pains me to say it...we aren't anywhere near done fighting."

"What? What do you mean?"

"You remember Linhardt, right?"

"Yeah, of course!"

"Well..." Claude was hesitant, but continued. "He was possessed by a little wispy thing that had taken control of Ignatz and turned him into the Dark Lord. We've gotta find Linhardt, or as he's now called because of what he's been transformed into, the Darker Lord. I'll fill everyone in later, but for now, we're alright."

The four proceeded on to the bathhouse after Ashe had let Felix go, and Meep had gotten down onto the ground once again, and had as relaxing a bath as they could have. They'd need to recharge for what all will come their way next.


	8. Chapter 8

If it wasn't for the fog that filled the air with each breath, Felix would've thought he had died. But despite still living, being alive and well...

**_This was so far from better than being dead._ **

He looked down at the ground, at Ashe. At Ashe, and how he didn't do  _ anything. _ He didn't move. He didn't breathe.  _ He didn't live. _

Why was this happening? Why did this have to happen? Why did this have to happen, take everything Felix had lived for from him, leaving him absolutely  **_hollow_ ** as he stared down at his love's lifeless form. His legs trembled as he slowly took a few steps forward, towards Ashe's body. He could begin to hear things screaming in his head, things he couldn't vocalize as his throat closed up tighter and tighter. Pleads and begs for Ashe's warmth, a big hug and a kiss with a smile that felt like a comforting ray of sunshine that warmed his whole body, and made him feel alive, safe, and at home, when he'd never truly felt those things before. His fists were clenched tighter and tighter as the long seconds dragged by, but he didn't even notice just how close he was getting to his bones crumbling into themselves from his grip, his breaths coming out as a growl through gritted teeth.

"Ashe." His tone was bitter, enough to make himself quiver from the harshness of that name spoken. There was no response, no reaction from the body he spoke to. He tried his hardest to swallow, his throat completely dry and sore, and pained as he did so as it stayed tight. He took a few more steps towards Ashe's body, and didn't even flinch from the shockwave of pain that shot through his legs and up his spine as he collapsed to his knees onto the ground. His eyes were wide, the color that had finally begun to shine was foggy and darker than it's ever been before as a shaky hand reached out to rest atop Ashe's head.

"A-Ashe-..." He leaned in closer, forcing himself to reach with both hands to turn Ashe over, and pulled him close. His blood ran cold as Ashe's head fell back, eyes closed and skin pale. Felix's composure was nowhere to be found, his expression frantically unstable. "S-...S-Snap out of it!" His face scrunched up with regret as a hand came up to give a hard slap to Ashe's face. Another, and another, and yet another. He just kept going, lost in his hopes that Ashe would wake up soon.

Felix cried as he kept going, his tears hot as they burned his eyes and rolled down his cheeks. He couldn't take it anymore, harming Ashe in any way only made him feel even worse, even if this Skill had helped save Ashe from all sorts of things countless times before. So, he stopped. His breaths were erratic, wide eyes red as he searched Ashe's lifeless face for anything he could find. "Why...W-why? Why, why,  _ WHY? _ This  **_ISN'T FUCKING FUNNY!_ ** "

He shakily cradled Ashe's face gently, and supported his head to lift it back up. His eyes squeezed shut tight, his teeth grinding together again hard enough for the sound to be loud in his ears as his heart only further gave in to the agony. The sobs that escaped him echoed through the void all around them, but Felix didn't have any bit of concern for that as he pressed his forehead against Ashe's lovingly.

"Ashe, please..." He choked out, his thumb rubbing against Ashe's cheek in a frantic act of affection. "Please wake up. Say something. Come back just long enough to be angry at me. Fight me. Haunt me. Hate me. Cry. Just please..." He leaned in closer, lips barely away from Ashe's own. "...Please, please just do  **_anything._ ** "

He couldn't hold back anymore. His lips softly pressed against Ashe's own, leaving a loving kiss before he pulled back just long enough to watch in hope for any sort of reaction. Even though he knew it was no use, it still filled him with pain when there was no reaction of the sort. He pressed his body closer and pulled Ashe's in, deepening the exchanges, no matter how painfully one-sided they were. He was scared, desperate and needy, because Felix knew that he needed a response because at this point, his life depended on it.

" _I'm so sorry..._ " He forces out between kisses, his voice struggling to come out more than a struggling whisper. "I'm so sorry, Ashe... Don't leave me... _Please..._ I love you _so much..._ **_I can't be without you..._** "

It was hopeless, and he knew it, but still he refused to let go. He refused to tear himself away from Ashe's side, and held him close for what felt like forever. He didn't care about anything else anymore. He didn't care about his responsibilities. He didn't care about his friends, about Claude, about anything but Ashe and bringing him back. He hated himself, blamed himself for not being there when Ashe needed him most, blamed himself for not being strong enough to learn the Skills he needed to prevent this fate. He didn't care.

He didn't care that he'd already become completely broken.

* * *

Felix's sobs echoed through the room, and Ashe held him close, trembling as his own tears fell. This was one of those nightmares that Felix couldn't wake up from, and the most that could be done is to comfort him in hopes it all ends soon. Meep was staring at him, eyes wide as he also trembled and whined in fear. He wanted to help Felix, but the fact that Ashe couldn't wake him up despite his attempts made Meep scared.

"Felix, please, wake up..." Ashe said softly as he cried. "I'm okay... I'm alive... I'm here with you..."

"A-Ashe...Ashe! AAAAASHE! PLEASE HELP ME! PLEASE COME BACK! _PLEEEAAASE!_ "

"F-Felix, please wake up!" Ashe shouted to him, and held him tighter. "I'm alive! I'm here! Please, if you hear me, follow my voice! I'll save you!"

A loud gasp, and then Felix was reduced to small whines alongside his sobs. Every time he would softly say Ashe's name, Ashe would respond gently, guiding him through the agony.

"It's okay, Fe... Just keep going, okay? You're almost there..."

"A-Ashe... P-please... Don't be dead..."

"I'm not, I promise. It's all just a nightmare, I promise. You'll wake up soon, and I'll be here to protect you-"

Ashe and Meep both jolted in surprise when Felix suddenly shot up with another loud gasp, eyes wide as he looked all around. The very moment his eyes met Ashe's own, he buried his face into the crook of Ashe's neck to hide as he broke down into another fit of loud sobs. Ashe only hugged him tight, rubbing his back in slow and soft circles as he rocked them back and forth.

"It's okay now, Fe. You're safe, now."

"I was so scared... I don't wanna lose you..."

"I'll never leave you, I promise. I refuse to get myself killed."

Felix pulled back to look into Ashe's eyes, ignoring the prickling overstimulation as he tried to read the look in them.

"...This is a promise that can't always be kept..."

"But it's still possible, and I'll keep it." Ashe responded sweetly, and smiled softly before giving Felix a soft kiss on his forehead. "You and I swore to die together, did we not? I'm not gonna let myself die before you. I'm gonna protect you, Fe. You do so much for me, and I'm gonna do the same for you when you need it. I may be a Thief..."

Ashe places a soft kiss on Felix's lips, and rests his forehead against Felix's own.

"...But I'm your knight, too. I'm gonna be the knight that only _I_ can be as I fight by your side."

There was a long swathe of silence, but neither of them were bothered. The two only gazed into each other's eyes this whole time. The raw compassion and kindness Ashe always gave to everyone, that somehow was even more intense to Felix himself, it was enough to ease all of Felix's worries in not time at all. The eye contact finally became too much, though. His eyes closed, and he pressed his lips against Ashe's own, and let himself smile into it when Ashe pulled him even closer.

"Ashe..." Felix gave Ashe one last kiss before he pulled away again, his eyes still closed as he returns to his spot of resting his forehead against Ashe's own. "I love you. I love you so much."

"I love you so much too, Fe. I'll always love you."

"Meep?"

The two look over, and pull away a little more to open their arms to allow Meep to snuggle up in the embrace, too. They smiled when Meep let out a happy little sigh, and wrapped their arms around Felix to hug him tight while nuzzling him.

"We love you too, Meep. You're a part of the family now."

A cheery squeak in response.

"Yeah, you're a part of the family, Meep!" Ashe added. "I've kinda started seeing you as Felix and I's little adopted son if I'm honest."

"Wait, you were thinking that, too?"

"Yeah, it was one of the first thoughts in my head when I really started watching you care for Meep, and how sweet you are to him."

"Oh, quiet you, I'm just doing what I need to do..."

"Try and hide it all you want, Fe, everyone knows you love Meep!"

"...I'll never deny that I do."

Meep snuggled up against Felix even more at this, and clicked when Felix and Ashe both began to pet him softly.

"Thank you two so much. I feel much better."

"Meep and I will always be here for you, Felix. We love you and want to do all we can to make sure you're safe and happy."

"And I'll do the same for the both of you. I promise, and intend to keep that promise no matter what."


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...I'm so sorry in advance, but I had to stick to the inevitable OOC bullshit that is Miitopia's SpotPass feature eventually. I love it too much to not include it.

Time dragged on.

The group had fought tirelessly as the days, even weeks, passed by, to grow even stronger in preparation for the final battle that was to eventually come. They took very consistent trips to the Traveler's Hub to check in on any leads on how to find the Darker Lord. After two leads had been rescued, and their faces restored, they had each gifted a jewel. Jewels that would open the door in between the group and their trek to the Darker Lord that the second lead had told them all of.

One day at the Hub, the group came across a rather unexpected sight to behold, worriedly standing around. He loomed over everyone else at the Hub already, so that made him stick out already, but the hot pink Super Cat Suit he wore only made him stick out further-

" **_IS THAT DIO BRANDO?!_ ** "

Claude jolted and immediately slapped a hand over Felix's mouth, and didn't relent when Felix fought against him. That got the Cat's attention, and he turned to face them fully. This...this actually  _ was _ Dio Brando. What in the everloving hell  _ was _ this place... Claude no longer understood it, seeing this man here, looking so worried. Dio Brando never worried, that isn't a Dio Brando thing to do. But here Dio Brando is. Worried. And a Cat. This weird interdimensional variation could've at least been a Vampire, that'd take a bit of the brunt off of how much this shook the group up...

"Do you have business with me?" Dio asked, his demeanor suddenly much sassier as he looked the group up and down with a hand on his hips.

"We were going to ask you something as well." Claude replied as he returned the intensity of that sass as he looked right up at Dio, and didn't once break the eye contact. "You looked troubled once we arrived at the Hub. What might be bothering you, and is there a way we could assist you somehow?"

How quickly that sudden confidence and sass faded was more than surprising, and Dio let out a sad sigh.

"My dearest little Toby has gone missing..."

"Toby?"

"Toby, my little puppy. One day he returned home, holding some odd jewel in his mouth. I yelled 'no' at him for this, as this looked to be something he had stolen while out and about, and he became frightened and ran off. I haven't seen him in almost a week..."

"I see." Claude replied. "Would you like us to help you find him? I feel we could find him fairly quickly with what skills we have up our sleeves."

"Would you do such?" Dio was now perking right up, that sass nowhere to be found. "I would allow it. On one condition. The condition is that you don't try and con me into anything too extravagant in return. This is a puppy rescue mission, not charity work that obligates some reward of treasures."

Claude smirked, and shook his head with a chuckle. "That sounds fine by us. All we want in return is that jewel."

"It belongs to you? Then in that case, it's a deal. Let's hurry up and get going, Toby must be so scared right now, all alone..."

* * *

"Aren't you getting on with the rest, Dio?" Dominic asked curiously as Dio only watched the group climb on and get situated for the journey.

He only silently watched on with a smirk. Once Dominic took to the air, Dio took a leap to join them. Dominic was surprised for a moment, but shook his head to focus again, and with a call, he flew off, with Dio following right along, to the pink skies of Peculia.

* * *

The dark clouds that swirled around ominously in the sky darkened the entire area, giving it an eerie stillness. Well, this area isn't named Eerie Road for nothing, it seems.

Claude, Dimitri, Beres, and Felix walked along the stone pathway straight down the middle of this specific part of the area, and took their time just looking around to adjust to the scenery. Felix would sometimes slow down just enough for Dio to be next to him to chat during the travel, and Claude almost rolled his eyes at the way he was just floating along. Arms crossed, still as can be aside from turning his head or moving that big mouth of his to just ramble on and on about how skilled and powerful he is. This Dio isn't actually that much different after all, it seems.

Now if only he had chosen a Vampire as his Job, so Claude wouldn't feel an Imp-like desire to plunge his sword right through this man for being so dramatic about his vampire powers he can use as a Cat, due to the reasoning he's even a vampire in the first place. He could appreciate Dio's showy behaviors in fiction, but he knew he'd never like a person like him in real life. But here Dio is. In real life. And Claude is feeling the Imp-like aggression kicking in as his patience wears thin.

But he'll endure. He always has, when anything has angered him before.

"So, Dio, have you come across any chances to have a nice bowl of Fruit Loops lately?"

_ Felix Hugo Fraldarius, never before have I wanted to strangle you until this very moment. _

Dio let out a cackle as he grinned widely. "Ah, the Fruit Loops! You're another man of culture, I see! The Loops are PLENTIFUL!"

"I'm glad to hear it. Fruit Loops are good. A powerful cereal."

"Indeed!"

Claude was almost happy the group was startled into alertness by a sudden flurry of noises, and panicked shouts. With a thud, a Running Nose fell down right in front of them, after just tripping and rolling all the way down a nearby hill. It took a moment for the monster to be able to situate to stand itself back up, and once it did, it stared at the group for a few long moments. It finally registered what was going on though, and let out another shout as it crouched in some odd sort of fighting stance for itself.

Claude readied his sword and proceeded forward-

"Take this!"

Dio leapt up high in the air, and slashed the Running Nose with two powerful hits, and away the eyes it wore floated after that poof and blue light flashed bright.

"You've been written off!"

_ Felix, if you weren't such a horny monsterfucker, I'd be way more pissed at you for tolerating his shit like you have been, to get him this confident with overstaying his welcome with us already. You fucking closet horndog. _

"What might be the matter, eh? Mad that you weren't quick enough?" Dio asked Claude with a near mocking grin.

"It was free for the taking. As trashy as lurching in front of me like some attention whore is, that fact stays concrete."

Beres and Dimitri widen their eyes at Claude's words, but choose to say nothing about it. He doesn't look like he'd be good for conversation right now, anyways...

Claude only continued on the path, without turning back around.

"We all still get the experience points from it, so do as you please, I guess. As long as you don't get in our way."

* * *

"That Dio fellow is...something else, isn't he?"

"He can piss off and suck some dick instead of our fighting turns."

"O-oh my goodness! You're truly beyond angry at him, aren't you?"

"I'm still feeling the mental and emotional effects of being an Imp, despite changing back to a Warrior all those weeks ago. I leveled up a LOT as an Imp, so I'll be having to just wait this out for a while. Until then, my patience will be  _ very _ thin."

"I-I understand..."

Claude huffed out a sigh as he looked up at Dimitri, who had been watching him sadly this entire time. He happily accepted Dimitri's open-armed invitation for a hug, and snuggled into the embrace, grinning slightly as he felt Dimitri place a few kisses atop his head.

"Hey, Dimi."

"Yes?"

"I love you lots, you know it?"

Dimitri smiled and tightened his grip.

"I love you too, dearest."

* * *

"Hey, Fe? What's that Dio guy's whole deal, again? He looks and sounds so familiar..."

Felix looked up from his book to eye Ashe intensely. Ashe was almost surprised at how those usually scowling eyes were almost sparkling right now as he did so, and when Felix got up out of bed to open up his storage chest to dig around, until he pulled out a book. Wait, this wasn't some regular book, it was... _ manga? _

"He's Dio Brando, from  _ JoJo's Bizarre Adventure _ ." Felix tapped the cover of the manga lightly a few times as he spoke. "This series right here. It's so fucking ridiculous and amazing. Please read it when you can. Y'know what? I'll let you read all of my own copies of the volumes here, lemme dig 'em out."

"O-oh, alright, let's see it!"

Felix took a few minutes longer as he dug through the chest, and took out a few more volumes to stack on top of each other before he stood and brought the stack with him to sit back on the bed.

"Let's just start out with these here. I'm not gonna force you to read a whole bunch all at once and burn you out."

"I'm excited!" Ashe grabbed the first volume, and scooted up to lean on Felix before opening it up to begin. "I wonder what this is gonna have in it if you love it so much."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some of the characters that will be added in as Travelers are gonna be like this instance here: OOC. So be aware of that now so it'll be something you're prepared for in the future with this fic LOL
> 
> Dio being that worried Cat who owns Toby in this playthrough of mine had me McFucking Shooketh to the point that I took in a gulp of air and choked on it, I shit you not.


	10. Chapter 10

"I wonder if he actually gayly sucks blood?"

"Felix."

"Do any of the other JoJos aside from Jotaro exist in this universe, too?"

" _Felix._ "

"Does he have his Stand? Does he go 'mudamuda' and 'za warudo'?"

" _Felix please I am begging you to be quiet._ "

* * *

Eerie Roads were oddly quiet today, save for an instance of being jumped by some Ghost Mallets that were easily defeated. Dio had jumped in front of Claude yet again to deliver the final blow to one of the four monsters fought. Claude almost, _ALMOST_ , took Dio right along with the other three monsters as he splattered them all over the ground with a more forceful Spin Slash than usual. He was getting more and more pissed off by how full of himself Dio is with each minute that passes. And to make things worse, he was downright mocking with his remarks and jabs now, his subtlety completely gone with the wind. Claude also could've sworn he saw Dio eyeing Dimitri once or twice, but he wasn't exactly sure if that was just the overprotectiveness he had for Dimitri or not.

The group stopped at a fork in the road, and for the first time since the Hub, Dio grew worried once again.

"Toby! Where are you?! I'm sorry for yelling at you, please come home!"

Dio almost yelled again, but suddenly stopped in his tracks as his eyes grew wide.

"Dio? What's your deal?"

_Poof._ Off his face flew before anyone could prevent it.

The group hurriedly followed it on its path. But fortunately, they didn't need to go far, before that face landed right on...a puppy's big snot bubble? The puppy was fast asleep, and clearly not in control of its own body as the big bubble took over as the puppeteer. The group readied their swords for battle.

* * *

This bubble monster, a Woof-o'-the-Wisp, was driving Claude mad.

Every single time they thought they were close, that damned bubble controlled the puppy, rolled over, and ended up healing itself. Claude was visibly angry at this point as he growled and slashed away his aggression.

"I'm TIRED of this!" Claude yelled, and leapt high into the air.

_**Claude is unusually focused!** _

" _JUMP SLASH!_ "

A squeal from the bubble, and it loudly popped once Claude's sword came down, with Dio's face flying right off. He blinked and stumbled a bit as he regained his balance, and ran over to the puppy.

"Toby!"

The puppy opened his eyes, and that little tail started wagging hard enough to be audible against the ground before he hopped up with a yip. Dio laughed joyfully as Toby hopped into his arms and excitedly licked his cheeks. It was almost wholesome enough to get Claude wanting to smile. Almost.

Dio stood tall, with Toby in his arms, before reaching into the pack at his hip to pull out a circular object. "This is what you wanted, correct? You've earned it."

It was the third jewel, the very one the group needed next. Claude took the jewel with a quick nod of thanks.

"Now that this has been solved, it's time to take Toby home for some much needed rest. This was quite the journey for you, wasn't it?"

Toby visibly slumped in Dio's arms with a small sigh.

"Also, I wish to thank you. Do know all of you have impressed me with your power. Especially you, Claude and Felix."

Claude only raised an eyebrow at him, while Beres and Dimitri could almost swear that Felix would start vibrating, due to how obvious it was that he was containing his true excitement at those words. Dio chuckled and grinned at them again. "I like pressing people's buttons, making them tick. Observing them. You passed those little tests, Claude. I must say I'm impressed with that, too. And with that, we'll be on our way."

  
Before anyone could say a word, Dio took to the sky, with Toby hugged close.

  
"Bye, Dio." Felix softly muttered as he looked up at the sky, watching the man's figure grow smaller and smaller as he grew farther away.

"Thank the Goddess that's over so soon. We're heading back, now. C'mon, monsterfucker, he's gone now."

"Wh-?! _Prick._ "

* * *

"Welcome back, Fe!"

Felix wrapped his arms around Ashe tight the very moment he was pulled into a hug, and only pulled back just enough to let Meep grab an arm to pull himself up higher with, and situated himself in between Ashe and Felix as they both hugged once again.

"I'm glad to be back. We have one more jewel to go after this before we can open that door."

"Ooh, that's great!" Ashe said happily. "So that's why Dio's already gone, right?"

"Yes. The only downside to the victory was that Claude called me a monsterfucker."

"Wh...Oh...W-well, you aren't that...right?"

"...I called him a prick."

"But you're not a monsterfucker though, right?"

"I'm hungry, I'm gonna go get something for dinner."

" _Felix-_ "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sadly, Dio's appearance ends soon, due to how quickly I finished that quest in my playthrough. But oh, don't worry, more crossovers will happen and soon. Like I said in the fic's main top note, I'm gonna be writing about what happens in my playthrough alongside impulse ideas.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Top 10 vital travelers, Number 5 may shock you!

"Picture it, though. Hugs for days, because you'd be too comfy and snuggly to wanna leave it."

"...True..."

"Also, think about how caring and doting they'd be. That natural instinct kicks in, and they'd wanna keep you all safe and happy however they can."

"Also true. I think I might...be warming up to this mental image."

"I sure hope so, because werewolf boyfriend and/or girlfriend hugs would be the _best_ during super cold nights, when you're feeling all down and want affection."

"How far are you gonna go with this?" Claude finally butted in to ask, with an eyebrow raised as he looked between the pair with amusement. "Don't get too sappy with it while we're all eating."

"You're the one making it weird, you pervert..." Felix grumbled as he looked down at his Cake shyly. "...I just wanna have a big werewolf boy who'll snuggle me and tell me I matter, is that so wrong? Lemme have my fantasy..."

Ashe sunk into his seat and hung his head with embarrassment. "I...I wanna have it too, please..."

"Whatever helps you two sleep at night. I'm not gonna stop ya."

"But Claude, if I may add..." Dimitri started softly. "Did you not have a time where you spoke of how nice it would be to have this very same thing?"

"DIMI-"

" _WHO'S THE MONSTERFUCKER NOW, BITCH?_ "

" _Look, I_ **_never_ ** _judged you for it, I just said it yesterday about Dio cuz I was pissed at him-_ "

Felix eyed Claude like a hawk, until he just cleared his throat and hurriedly stood to exit the room. For once, he didn't dare to hesitate as he turned to shoot Dimitri an appreciative look. One that Dimitri is going to hold dear for the rest of his days.

* * *

Another day at the Traveler's Hub, and Claude, Felix, Dimitri and Ashe had helped quite a few people with some smaller tasks they needed assistance with. They'd seen many unique faces today, ones that they never expected to see. But the one that stood out the most was near the far side of the Hub, just standing around near the exit. He loomed over the others here, and the tails of the coat of his Rose Lab Gear fluttered in the breeze.

Claude and Felix both suddenly began to loudly cough as they choked on their own air and spit the moment they laid eyes on him from the shock of it all.

"C-Claude, are you alright?! T-Try to breathe and calm yourself!" Dimitri stuttered out in a panic as he ran to Claude's side.

"Fe, what's wrong?! Are you okay?!" Ashe had Felix leaning against him for support as he tried to quell his coughing fit. "I-It's okay, just take slow breaths, don't breathe in too quickly too fast!"

Claude and Felix finally managed to calm themselves, and took a moment to clear their throats and let out a few more small coughs to further that attempt.

"Sorry. Got shaken up." Felix muttered calmly, his voice a tad hoarse from all the coughing he'd just done.

"We were shooketh." Claude added.

"By what, exactly? I've never seen you so shaken up like that! And if _Felix_ was as well..."

Claude didn't reply to Dimitri, and just made his way over with Felix right next to him to the one in question. The moment he turned to look at them with a curious noise that was far too familiar for them all, Dimitri and Ashe suddenly knew right away what that was all about from these two.

"Excuse me, but do you need help with anything?" Claude asks casually.

"Wah? Oh, yes, I do, actually!"

"Oh my God this is so fucking wild..." Felix whispers once he walks back over to stand next to Ashe, who had finally caught up with Claude and Felix when they hurried over.

"And what might that be? And is there anything we can do to assist you?"

"Hm, let's see..." The person said, before he grinned with a twinkle in his eye. "I've heard of a very advanced robot in Nimbus! I wanna go to the Sterile Plant to witness it for myself! But ah...there is one problem. I can't seem to get there."

"Oh, that's super simple for us, we could get you there easy! When did you want to go?"

"Wah!" The person hops from his excitement. "This is fantastic! Thank you! I can go right-a now! Oh, sorry, the accent gets-a bit thick when I'm real excited."

Claude laughs and shakes his head. "It's all good, and we can head there now if you'd like. Why don't we go ahead and get going?"

"Yes! Wait. I would like-a to introduce myself first! I am Waluigi, the Scientist!"

"It may surprise you, but we all know exactly who you are. You've got a big and positive rep. And I'm Claude von Riegan, a pleasure."

Waluigi lets out yet another excited "wah" as he and Claude shake hands, and with an eager nod, he's ready to go. Claude is more than alright with that, and the group makes their way out of the Hub.

* * *

"Wah! A dragon!"

"He's our friend, Dominic, don't worry." Claude says as he makes to climb up Dominic's back to get situated on his spot atop Dominic's head. "He's gonna be the one to get us up to Nimbus."

"Oh! Well in that case, let's-a get climbing, then!"

Waluigi does the opposite of climbing, and just leaps up to be seated on Dominic's back. Claude and Felix almost choke again as they hear that famous noise as he made the leap. This _still_ was shaking them up, and they were loving every single moment of it. Once everyone was in their spot, Dominic took to the skies, and flew straight upwards to the cloudy region of Nimbus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was so fucking happy that the Wah himself was the Scientist in my playthrough.


End file.
